Staying true to the principles of our founding organisation, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (The RSA), of ‘undertakings for the public good we take a practical view of social justice, moving from powerful thinking into practical action. We consider how our people, places and processes can best support social justice, putting this commitment into practice. Fundamental to this are inclusion and equity.

Creating the culture in order to best deliver our vision in practical ways is what Our Distinctive Culture document seeks to support. Further information can also be found by watching the CRST videos.

School culture can be defined as the guiding beliefs and values evident in the way a school operates. ‘School culture’ can be used to encompass all the attitudes, expected behaviours and values that impact how the school operates.’ Fullan (2007). Our guiding principles are organised into three categories: people, places and processes.

It is vital we get our school culture right. It is bigger than compliance: we are clear that our culture is delivered through shared endeavour, professional high expectations, warmth, inclusivity, positivity and kindness. It is the intentional behaviours and mindsets that shape the thinking, the communication, the values and mission. The danger of not getting the culture right is that this will significantly limit our progress towards ensuring sustainable excellence in each of our schools.

Culture, in the communities our Trust serves, matters. Our leaders strive to establish our strong distinctive culture and we are consciously developing a shared language. In order to grow this further, and sustain our strong culture into the future, we need to define what it is we do that builds and secures a rich, safe culture. Without this clarity, through changing personnel and drifting norms, a strong culture can be easily eroded and eventually lost completely. Our Distinctive Culture document seeks to set out this definition: what we expect, what we say and what we do.

People, places and processes. These three areas form our culture and underpin the delivery of our strategic plan as we strive to support social justice through exceptional schools.